Safety fender for automobiles



' O. E. JONES SAFETY FENDER FOR AUTOMOBILES Filed March 28 I .1HMHHHHHHHHIHH INVENTOR. OscarE. Jones I A TTORNEY Patented Feb. 19,1924.

PATENT OFFICE.

OSCAR E. JONES, OF MARYSVILLE, CALIFORNIA.

SAFETY FENDER FOR AUTOMOBILES.

Application filed March 28, 1923.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, Oscar E. JONES, a citizen of the United States,residing at Marysville, county of Yuba, State of California, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Safety Fenders forAutomobiles: and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, and to the characters of reference marked thereon, which forma part of I this application.

This invention relates to improvements in tender or bumper devices forautomobiles, the principal objectof my invention being to provide astructure by means of which the vehicle will be protected against damagefrom blows delivered both along the sides and at both ends of thevehicle.

Another object is to provide means whereby on any vehicle equipped withmy device the speed of the car when struck or striking another car orany other object will be recorded at the time.

This latter feature is of especial value in the event of a disputearising after an accident has occurred, and will do away with theuncertainty and unreliability of unsupported testimony as to the speedof the car at the time of the accident, which with present equipmentcannot be verified, and is frequently minimized by theofl'enders,magnified by the victims, and guessed at by any eye witnesses.

\Vith my improved device, a visual record of the speed of a car, whichmay be used as evidence in a court trial, will be had, and the rigl'itsof victims, especially pedestrains, will be greatly safeguarded.

Another object of my invention is to provide means whereby if onevehicle equipped \vith my structure runs into another one similarlyequipped, both cars will be locked together, and the driver of theoffending vehicle cannot instantly back away and leave the scene, as nowfrequently occurs, especially when the car struck is parked and thedriver absent.

These objects I accomplish by means of such structure and relativearrangement of parts as will fullyappear by a perusal of the followingspecification and claims.

In the drawings similar characters of reference indicate correspondingparts in the several views.

Serial No. 628,251.

Fig. 1 is a top plan outline of the chassis of an automobile, showing myimproved structure mounted thereon.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of a front fender and catchingdevice.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective of a rear end portion ofthe struc ture.

Fig. 4 is a cross section taken on the line 44 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a face view of a speedometer equipped with a recording meansactuated by a movement of one of the fenders.

Fig. 6 is a partial cross section of the speedometer.

Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on thedrawings the numeral 1 denotes the side frames of an automobile, havingfront and rear wheels 2 and 3 and the usual running boards 4:.

Positioned parallel to the ground and running boards and preferablyextending below the latter from a point just at the rear of the frontwheels to a suitable point beyond the rear of the rear wheels are roundfenderbars 5, turnably mounted in suitably disposed supports 6 extendingat right angles to the bars and transversely of the vehicle, andslidably mounted in brackets 7 secured on and depending from theframes 1. Compression springs 8 are placed on the supports 6 between thebrackets 7 and the bars 5, acting to hold the supports and barsoutwardly.

Turnably mounted on the rear ends of the bars 5 are sleeves 9, in whichslide and turn bars 10 which beyond said sleeves are bent to extendtoward each other across the back of the vehicle, to form back fendersor bumpers 11, said bumpers terminating short of each other. Each bumper11 is slidably mounted in a support 12, itself slidably mounted in abracket 13 projecting rearwardly from andsecured onithe frames 1.Compression springs 14 are about the supports 12 between the bracketsandbumpers 11, and similar springs 15 are about the latter and bearagainst the outer faces of the supports.

Projecting from the bars 10 are pins 16, slidable in slots 17 cut in thesleeves 9. sa d slots being so shaped as to cause a cer ain degree ofrotation of the sleeves with an initial telescopic movement of saidbars, and then permitting further telescopic movement without anyrotation of said sleeves.

C s-Al Depending from the sleeves are tins 18, which overlap similartins 19 on the bars 5, the overlap being so arranged, with regard to theslant 01 the slots 17, that as the sleeves are rotated by the in vementoi the pins in said slots, the bars are likewise rotated, but the latterare free to be turned independent of the sleeves.

lilounted on the dash of the car in the usual location is a speedometer20, of the needle and dial type. This may be substituted for the onealreat y on the vehicle. or the latter may be used, if it is of thistype.

This speedometer has a dial 21 slidably mounted relative to the stem 22of the indicating needle 23 for movement to and away from the latter,being normally held in the lastnamed position by suitably disposedspring means as indicated at 24 (Fig. (.3), the needle being operated inthe usual manner.

Mounted with the needle and projecting toward but normally spaced fromthe dial is a crayon point adapted to mark on the dial.

Secured on the back face of the latter are opposed wedge-cams 26 adaptedto be engaged by similar cams 27 mounted on the ends of an arm 28turnable on the stem behind the dial. a spring :29 normally holding thearm away from the dial cams.

It cord or pull-wire 30 extends from said arm to the periphery of thespeedometer casing. and is there attached in common to similar cords orwires o1 extending to and wrapped somewhat around the bars 5.

It will thus be seen that if either of the bumpers 11 moves toward thecar so as to turn the corresponding bar 5, or the latter are rotatedindependently, the immediate result will be to pull on the cords, drawthe dial up against the crayon 25, and as the needle moves toward zeroas the speed of the car is checked, as it naturally would be whenstriklng another car or obstacle or upon being struck. a visible mark asat 32, starting from the highest speed indicated at the time by theneedle, will he made on the dial. serving as uncontrovertible evidencein the event of a dispute arising as to the speed of the car at thetime.

The sleeves 9 are rotated by movement of the pins 16 in the slots 17just sutficient to move the dial the required distance, so that nostraining or distortion of the pull wires or dial is had. It thespeedometer already on the car is used, the dial 21 is a false oneplaced in front of the regular dial.

The bars 5 are rotated independent of the sleeves 9 in the 'tollowingmanner:

Mounted on the trames l at their torivard ends are brackets 33 in whichare slidably mounted bars 34. extending longitudinally of the vehicle.and connected together by a cross arm 35. Each bar 34 has a pair oflongitudinally spaced springs 36 and 57 inside ite bracket the spring 36being relatively light and taking the initial shock of movement of thebar ill, and the heavier spring 37 then taking the load.

The rear end ot one of the bars 34-. beyond its bracket, is adapted whenmoved rearwardly to immediately engage one end oi. a small lever 38pivoted on the bracket, and to the opposite end of which connected. apull wire 39, leading to the cord 30 of the speedometer member andconnected thereto in common with the wires 31. The lever 38 is soarranged with respect to the bar H that the former will only be movedthe distance necessary to cause the arm 28 to move and throw the dialforwardly and then rides n the bar 34 with any further rear ard movement of the latter. thus preventing excessive movement of the wire 39and parts connected thereto.

The springs h are suttic cntly sensitive to cause the bars Set to moveback. and a speed indi -ation to be made when a relatively light object,such as a person. is struck.

Secured on the front end of the bars 3-iare rigid and verticallydisposed forks ll). having pivoted therein opposed and coopen ating bellcranks 411., one of each of whose arm extends forwardly of the apex ofthe 't'crks and overlap. as shown in Fig. 2. there being a lead orsimilar easily breakable pin 42 passed through the overlapped ends andnormally holding them in such position.

To function properly. the forks are set. by suitable adjustment of thebrackets :33. so that their apexes are substantially in line with theside and rear fender bars 5 and 11 of other vehicles, which would all heset at a specitied hei ht from the ground.

\Vhen the 'l'orks strike the side bars they will first engage thedepending tins. and cause rotation of the bars. in the only directionmade possible by the tins. and will cause the speed record to heimmediately made in the manner hereinbelore set forth. not only on thevehicle struck. but on the one doing the striking.

The bell cranks 1&1 then contact with the bars 5, breaking the pin 42and allowing thc projected bell crank arms to move rearwardly, while theother hell crank arnis then move down and around the bars. encl singthem in the area between the forks and said arms.

Suitable catch lugs or detcnts 43 on the forks then act to hold the bellcranks in their bar embracing positions. preventing separation of thetwo vehicles from each other.

After the bars have been rotated the necessary distance to actuate thespeed record. which is determined by the dcpth oi the bar-tins relativeto the forks, further pressure of the latter against the bars causes thelatter to move inwardly compressing the springs 8 and 15, and causingthe corresponding Wire 31, which has already functioned, to becomeslack.

The wires 31 and 39 are so arranged of course that anyone may movewithout necessitating any movement of the others.

Similarly, each bar 11 will function independent of the other, and eachbar 5 will function independently of the other or of the bars 11.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that I haveproduced such a device as substantially fulfills the objects of theinvention as set forth herein.

lVhile this specification sets forth in de tail the present andpreferred construction of the device, still in practice such deviationsfrom such detail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from thespirit of the invention, as defined by the appended claims.

Having thus described my lIlWEIltlOIl, what I claim as new and usefuland desire to se cure by Letters Patent is:

1. A fender structure for automobiles comprising in combination withtender bars mounted. on the vehicle and a speedometer mounted thereon,means between the bars and speedon'ieter whereby a visible and permanentrecord of the speed of the vehicle at the time the bars are struck willbe ob tained.

2. A fender structure for automobiles comprising in combination withtender bars mounted on the vehicle and a speedometer mounted thereon,said speedometer having a speed indicating needle and a dial, a mark ingdevice on the needle, and means actuated by the force of a horizontalblow delivered against the bars for causing the marking device toimprint a mark on the dial.

3. A fender structure for automobiles comprising in combination withtender bars mounted on the vehicle and a speedometer mounted thereon,said speedometer having a speed indicating needle and a dial, the latterbeing movable toward the needle and normally spaced therefrom, a markingelement carried by the needle, and means actuated by the initial. forceof a horizontal blow against the tenders forcausing the dial to be movedto be engaged by the marking element.

1. A fender structure for automobiles comprising in combination withtender bars, turnably mounted along the sides of the vehicle and aspeedometer likewise mounted on the vehicle, said SpBQClMHCl'QI' havinga speed indicating needle and a dial movable theretowards, a markingelement carried by the needle, means between the bars and dial formoving the latter into engagement with the marker with the rotation ofthe bars, and means for rotating said bars.

5. A fender" structure for automobiles comprising in combination withtender bars, turnably mounted along the sides of the vehicle and aspeedometer likewise mounted on the vehicle, said speedometer having aspeed indicating needle and a dial movable theretowards, a markingelement carried by the needle, means between the'bars and dial formoving the latter into engagement with the marker with the rotation ofthe bars, rear fenders on the vehicle arranged for horizontal movement,and means between the side and rear tenders whereby when such movementis imparted to the latter the side tenders will be rotated.

6. A fender structure for automobiles comprising in combination withtender bars,

turnably mounted along the sides of the vehicle and a speedometerlikewise mounted on the vehicle, said speedometer having a speedindicating needle and a dial movable theretowards, a marking clementcarried by the needle, means between the bars and dial for moving thelatter into engagement with the marker with the rotation of the bars,rear fenders on the vehicle, arranged for horizontal movement, and meansbetween the side and rear tenders whereby when such movement isinitially imparted to the latter the side tenders will be rotatedthrough a predetermined arc, but with any further l'novement of said endtenders the rotation of the side tenders will cease.

7. A fender structure for automobiles comprising in con'ibination withtender bars, turnably mounted along the sides of the vehicle and aspeedometer likewise mounted on the vehicle, said specdon'ietcr having aspeed indicating needle and a dial mo "able theretovnirds, a markingelement carried by the needle, means between the bars and dial formoving the latter into engageu'ient with the marker with the rotation ofthe bars, rear fenders 011 the vehicle arranged for horizontaln'iovement, and means between the side and rear fenders whereby whensuch movel'nent is imparted to the latter the side tenders will berotated, and means whereby the side fenders may be rotated alone withoutimparting any movement to the rear fenders.

In testimony whereof I tlillX my signature.

OSCAR E. JONES.

